Can Marijuana Cause Depersonalization?

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Like substances such as ketamine, salvia, LSD, and ecstasy, marijuana causes depersonalization. Mostly, depersonalization from weed affects teens and young adults below 28 years — it is rare in older adults.

Read on to understand how marijuana depersonalization presents and how you would manage it on your own or through a therapist.

What is Marijuana Depersonalization?

Depersonalization is a disorder that separates people from reality and takes them to a world of unreality. Affected people may start to feel like they have gone crazy. They may begin to believe that everything around them is not real.

Depersonalization from weed can happen at any time in the course of using marijuana actively. Scientists claim that the dream-like state is a natural reaction that protects people from trauma or stress.

For some marijuana users, depersonalization disappears on its own. However, for some, the disorder lasts for days or months. But, the good news is that the dissociative disorder is not permanent.

What are the Symptoms of Depersonalization?

From amnesia to lack of consistency in thoughts, depersonalization has several symptoms. Though the symptoms appear differently in different people, a majority of patients exhibit the following signs:

Disconnection from self-identity, surroundings, and thoughts
Feeling like an outside viewer of self
Problems with friends and family
Hopelessness, anxiety, and depression
Difficulty remembering things
Loss of control over speech and coordination
Feeling like hands, legs, and other body parts are distorted
Difficulty focusing on tasks

Overcoming Marijuana Depersonalization

Although incapacitating, one can manage brief episodes by themselves through various self-care therapies. In case of intense attacks of depersonalizations that keep recurring, patients can get help from skilled therapists.

Self-help Treatments for Depersonalization

Listen to Your Favorite Music

Listening to music is an effective self-therapy for managing brief episodes of depersonalization. It reduces the severity of depersonalization by diverting the mind from stressful situations like worrying about going crazy and self-blame.

Besides diverting thoughts, music boosts self-esteem, strengthens coping skills, and ends muscle tension. Researchers recommend listening to music for at least 45 minutes as the best way to calm down when feeling overwhelmed.

Reading a Book Aloud

For people who enjoy reading, reading out loud would help them overcome the confusion and mental breakdown associated with the condition. Like music, reading a good book diverts one from intrusive thoughts that would worsen the condition.

Besides managing intrusive thoughts, a six-minute read slows heart rate, lowers stress, increases self-awareness, and relieves muscle tension. For years, therapists have used reading to address various mental conditions successfully.

Avoid Marijuana and Other Drugs

Many marijuana users battling depersonalization think that taking an extra dose of weed unwinds and relieves the unpleasant feelings. After all, at one time, a majority of depersonalization patients would have used weed to successfully relieve anxiety and depression.

Nonetheless, therapists claim that marijuana and other hallucinogens highlight the symptoms of depersonalization rather than relieving it. Therefore, avoiding all social drugs while recovering from this condition is necessary.

Spend Free Time on Hobbies and Other Tasks

Depersonalization gets worse when an affected person is idle. Therefore, one should occupy their free time working out in a gym or playing a favorite game with friends. Additionally, the patients can pass their free time gardening or doing any other hobby or activity they enjoy.

Staying busy gives a break from the worry, stress, and anxiety of this condition. Also, staying busy drains excess energy, which will help improve sleeping patterns.

Avoid the Thoughts of Going Crazy

Going crazy is the main source of stress, anxiety, and depression for people battling depersonalization from weed. Patients spend hours blaming themselves for using a harmful substance and worrying about their spoiled future.

Nonetheless, therapists claim that worrying about going crazy should be the least concern for these patients. Why? The condition is a natural, temporary response to stress or trauma. With proper management, the symptoms will go away, and sufferers resume a normal life.

Exercise Patience

Recovering from depersonalization can take longer than anticipated — not even a therapist can tell how long it takes to recover fully. However, in the long run, people do get better with treatment. Therefore, it matters to remain patient while focusing on treatment.

Impatience triggers anxiety, stress, and depression, which are prerequisites of severe depersonalization from weed. Note that, with the impatience-related mental disturbance, one would take longer than average to defeat the condition.

Professional Treatment of Depersonalization

Recurrent episodes of depersonalization affecting people addicted to marijuana are best managed by therapists through therapy. That is because depersonalized people hardly resume normalcy with self-help.

Therapists use a combination of counseling and other therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy to control addiction and depersonalization. Depending on the person’s condition, specialists use the following treatment to treat the condition.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

When it comes to mental issues, cognitive behavioral therapy stands as the most effective therapy. Professionals have used it to successfully treat depression, addiction, marital problems, depersonalization, and other mental issues.

During treatment, the therapist helps patients to normalize their thoughts, improve problem-solving, and identify & fix distortions in thinking. At the end of successful therapy, patients have restored hope, self-esteem, and rationality.

Meditation Therapy

Meditation therapy focuses on helping patients remain calm and conscious when overwhelmed with depression, stress, and anxiety. The therapy helps patients battle pain, insomnia, and other mental issues associated with dissociative disorder.

Based on the person’s condition, therapists can use a variety of methods. These include mantras, loving-kindness, or body scan meditation to help their patients cope successfully. For instance, they can use diaphragmatic breathing, which entails sitting comfortably, breathing in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Meditation therapy reduces heart rate, prevents muscle strain, and induces relaxation.

Music Therapy

In music therapy, experts use the power of music to help patients calm down and reduce stress and anxiety. The treatment involves listening to favorite music, playing an instrument, or composing.

A person does not have to be a composer or instrument player to benefit from music therapy. Music therapy improves a patient’s coping, communication, and social skills when appropriately done.

Music therapy also improves memory, reduces tension, and increases motivation.

Art Therapy

In art therapy, specialists use artistic methods like collage, finger painting, photography, doodling, and painting to manage anxiety and depression. Moreover, therapists can use the therapy to manage anxiety and substance use.

When done properly, art therapy helps patients re-experience emotions just the way they did before getting depersonalized. Also, art therapy can restore self-awareness, mental function, and coping skills.

Start Recovery Today

Like many restricted substances, marijuana causes depersonalization. The disorder separates people from reality, making them feel like they are viewing their life in a movie. Left unmanaged, patients will leave a low-quality life characterized with panic and depression.

Fortunately, Wellness Retreat can help patients with mild or complex depersonalization from weed regain their normal function. Wellness Retreat collaborates with skilled therapists to help patients recover, in a serene and safe environment.

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